Tearing Down Social Platforms Like Gab Won't Stop the Violence

darth-cryptic (57)in #politics • 5 years ago

Last weekend, a horrible tragedy occurred when a gunman opened fire in a Pittsburgh synagogue, killing 11 people. In the wake of this tragedy, a devastated public has been seeking to make sense of this act of mass violence.Heinous acts of violence shake us to our core and leave us feeling vulnerable and confused. But this vulnerability should not cloud our reason. And by holding social media platforms, like Gab, accountable for someone else’s crime, we remove the personal responsibility that should fall on those who actually committed the murders.

Source: Tearing Down Social Platforms Like Gab Won't Stop the Violence - Foundation for Economic Education

This is not a free speech issue as a private company should be able to decide who to do business with. However, that doesn't mean this type of behavior should be tolerated by customers. This article points out a number of reasons why this type of censorship is bad, not the least of which is the double standards exercised. Gab gets shutdown because some anti-semitic murderer happened to use that platform. So why doesn't twitter get shutdown when terrorists from ISIS use theirs? The answer is money of course. Twitter is just much bigger. At the end of the day, this type of behavior will only harm the businesses that perpetrate it. Sooner or later, people will get fed up with the kind of censorship that Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and even companies like PayPal exercise. There are many competitors coming along, particularly in the blockchain world. They may not be big yet but I'm willing to bet they will be.